Malta Wrestlers take fifth at home meet

With the Malta Invitational in the books, the Malta-Whitewater Mustangs wrestling team has their sights set on the Northern B-C Divisional this weekend in Chinook, which will feature 13 teams.

With the last meet before state only a few days away, Malta is looking hopeful with many wrestlers ready to make a run after an impressive showing the Malta Athletic Club Invitational and Mixer events last weekend. The Mixer was held last Friday and the Invitational last Saturday.

"Hopefully we will have a good week of practice ahead of us and make sure that we go into divisionals semi-healthy and ready to wrestle," Mustangs Head Coach Ryan LaBrie said.

Last year, Malta qualified seven wrestlers, all of which who returned this season, including Trey Simanton who took third place in the 113 pound class and Antonio Lopez who took fourth in the 205 class.

Malta fared well at the Malta Athletic Club Invitational last Saturday, taking fifth place as a team with 80.5 points and placing three wrestlers. Havre won the meet with a score of 265, Choteau took second with 118, Shepherd placed third with a score of 112 and Glasgow had a score of 103.

"They did a really good job this weekend," Coach LaBrie said. "We are getting healed up in certain places, but they wrestled pretty tough for the most part."

Coach LaBrie was pleased with the level of competition, the Malta Invitational brought this year.

"The level of competition that we bring to Malta for this last tournament of the regular season, every match is a knockdown, drag out," he said. "They wrestle pretty well."

Mustang sophomore Trey Simanton took second place in the 126 pound class after losing the championship to Choteau's Trevor Moore on a 11-2 decision. Senior Jordan Pierce took third place in the 170 class after defeating Havre's Walter White by pin fall in one minute, forty-four seconds. Freshman Kolter Schipman impressed in the 120 class taking third place after pinning Valier's Tanner VandenBos at the 3:32 mark.

Simanton had an impressive run into the 126 championship match. His day started with a first round bye, followed by a win against Shepherd's Brady Skogas in twenty-nine seconds.

Simanton went on to defeat Valier's Isaac Ramos in the semi-final round by Technical Fall (15-0). Though Simanton won handily, the match was the most exciting match in the 126 class, featuring speed, power and plenty of technical wrestling. Simanton knew it would be a tough match.

"I just had to keep my pressure on him and his arms broke down so he couldn't build his base," Simanton said.

In his first Malta Invitational since his sophomore year, Pierce displayed some great wrestling taking third place in the 170 class. His day started with a bye, then a victory against Choteau's Dakota Daley. Pierce pinned Daley 47 seconds into the second round.

"I was trying to stay in position instead of going for it all right away," Pierce said.

Being in a lighter weight class than he started in the beginning of the season, Pierce had not seen Daley, but he admitted to feeling better at 170 than he did last week after losing 12 pounds.

"I feel way better than last week," Pierce said. "I've maintained my bodyweight."

Pierce felt some pressure going into his home meet.

"I feel pressure especially since one of our seniors just got hurt," he said. "It's tough, but you have to fight through it."

Pierce would lose in the semi-final round to Shepherd's Sonny Cochran by pin fall just four seconds before the end of the first round.

He would rebound by taking out Havre's Jacoby Fox in thirty-four seconds and then White in the Consolation Finals to take home third place.

"I was just trying to stay behind, like usually," Pierce said after his win against White. "I've been trying to slow myself down a little and make sure I'm doing things right.

Though Pierce scored on the opening takedown, Pierce nearly fell into some trouble after he fell into a reversal by White.

"I was trying to let him back up so I could have another takedown," Pierce said.

He eventually regained control and pinned White at the 1:44 mark in the first round. With many Mustangs in the senior class facing injury, Pierce placed highest in his class, which was an honor at the meet.

"It feels really good, especially wrestling down at 170," Pierce said. "I'm starting to feel really good at this weight."

Pierce has been wrestling since he was five, with his father Jeremy helping him along the way.

"He's always there to tell me to think, keep my head straight and he tells me to stick to the basics," Pierce said. "He lets me know when I'm doing something wrong."

Schipman had a first round bye before facing Wolf Point's Quinn Whitmus, a match that Schipman would lose seventeen seconds into the third round.

"I probably could've wrestled harder against Whitmus, stuff happens I guess," Schipman said. "He just got the best of me. I did what I could and he just caught me in some moves when I was in a bad place at the wrong time."

His road to an eventual third place finish would catch traction after he defeated Harlem's Gavin Horn in twenty-eight seconds. He would then defeat Vandenbos by pin fall.

"It feels pretty good," Schipman said. "It's my home crowd and I did what I could."

Schipman displayed an array of holds during his victories, including a double-arm bar pin against Horn and a double under hook pin against VandenBos, moves that he has practiced with fellow Mustang Simanton.

"My practice partner is Trey and he likes to run some of those pretty arm bars and cradles," Schipman said. "He's taught me quite a few finishers throughout the year."

Schipman has wrestled well, defeating most opponents that he will likely see next weekend in the Divisional Tournament.

"I think I can place in the top three," Schipman said. "I've got it in my head that I can do pretty good."

With the return of senior Chase Murray at the meet, the Mustangs had three in the 160 pound weight class, which includes Travis Epperson and Derek Peigneux.

Two wrestlers, Epperson and Murray lost in the opening round, no Mustang loss was more painful than Murray's as he saw his first action since a football related shoulder injury sidelined him for the wrestling season.

Murray fought valiantly in his opening match against Poplar's Jeffrey Berger, but Berger isolated Murray's shoulder and capitalized to pin Murray within the last few seconds of round one.

Murray would eventually make it to the consolation semi-finals by defeating Havre's Jared Lauex in 1:31.

"I just have to wrestle smart and wrestle to my ability," Murray said after his win. "If I wrestle to my ability, I could probably stay up with most of them."

Murray would then lose to Shepherd's Spencer Dougherty late in the first round of the match.

"I was extremely pleased with the way Chase wrestled last night and today," Coach LaBrie said. "Those were his first matches of the year so it was pretty important to see the things that we did see with Chase. He was still beat up quite a bit but he was wrestling competitively against some really tough kids here, and he was one match shy of placing."

Peigneux was the only Mustang in the 160 class to win his first match, pinning Lauex (who later lost to Murray) near the end of the second round.

"I've never wrestled Jared before, but I knew he would be tough being from Havre," Peigneux said.

The was nearly over in the first but Peigneux was quick to counter.

"He tried to cradle me and I rolled through it," he said. "You have to keep a calm head under pressure. Don't get worried when you're going to be put on your back, you just have to work on getting around and getting back on top.

Later, Peigneux caught Lauex with an arm bar and won the match.

He would then fall to Dougherty in the next round. He would see a familiar face in teammate Epperson during the elimination round.

After winning his first elimination match against Glasgow's Blaine Myrick by pin fall in 58 seconds, Epperson would have to face Peigneux in a consolation quarter-final match. Epperson would pin Peigneux ten seconds before the first round ended.

"I just have to keep pushing, keep trying and refrain from giving up," Epperson said after his win against Myrick.

Epperson would lose to Berger by Technical Fall (15-2) in the consolation semi-final round.

In the 132 pound class, Ceaton Mears would reach the consolation semi-finals. He won his first match against Wolf Point's Rasmus Nordman by cradle pin fall in twenty-seven seconds. He was the first Mustang from Malta to wrestle.

"I've wrestled Rasmus all year, so I pretty much know how he wrestles," Mears said. "It feels pretty good (to win); it's a good start for our team."

Mears lost his second match to eventual fourth place finisher Glasgow Kasey Seyfert. Mears went on to defeat Poplar's Tuyan Tran by pin fall at 1:09. He then defeated CJI's Kobe Tran by a 15-2 Majority Decision.

Mears would lose in the consolation semi-final round to Trey Taylor at 1:21.

Freshman Andres Lopez was impressive in his first Malta Invitational winning 3 matches in the 152 pound class.

His first win came in the opening round against Choteau's Bryan Ballard. Lopez pinned Ballard with thirty seconds left in the first round. He would lose the next round to Glasgow's Alex Hallock in the first round.

Lopez would do a lot of damage in the elimination bracket by taking out Glasgow's Darrin Wersal with a 6-2 decision and then Shepherd's Justin Mueller by pin fall in twenty-six seconds.

Lopez would lose to Cut Bank's JR Seewald by pin fall in the consolation semi-final round.

Mark Missildine showed great effort in both of his matches in the 113 class but he fell first to Choteau's Pete Henderson and then to Shepherd's Karson Wortman in the consolation semi-finals.